Saddles and Seperation
by waitingfox22
Summary: AU - Armin and Jean are two centaurs that come to know one another thanks to Jean being brought onto a farm that Armin already lived on. The two slowly get to know one another and fall into a relationship as they train for cross-country and show jumping. But will their riders, Eren and Mikasa, allow that? Let's just say, these boys can't stand saddles and separation. -ON HIATUS-
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Attack on Titan in any way!

Warnings: OOC-ness, a relationship between two male centaurs, mild curses, etc.

A/N: Hey there, I just wanted to say I am not a horse expert, so certain terms and events I write about may not be perfect or right. If any of that bothers you, either please help me fix it or simply ignore it and enjoy the reading. Also please note the centaurs in my story look like your typical half-human, half-horse creature, only they have horse ears instead of human ears. Thank you!

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><p>There's a farm out in the country side. "Fields of Freedom" was the name of said farm. On this farm lived many kinds of horses, and even creatures known as centaurs; which are half-human, half-horse beings. One particular day Eren, a young boy that lived on the farm, spotted one the centaurs lying in the field with a pained expression on her face. Confused and worried, Eren ran back to the house to get his mother. By the time Carla, Eren's mother, and Eren made it to the mare, she was panting from exhaustion and stared at the pair cautiously. When Carla asked the mare what was going on, the mare simply stood on shaky legs, revealing a tiny foal. Carla immediately went to check on the newborn.<p>

"Mom?" Eren questioned; still confused.

"Don't worry Eren, she just had a baby. Why not come over and meet him?" Carla looked to the mare for her approval. "If that's okay with you." When the mare nodded Eren walked over to his mom and knelt next to the colt. The colt's body was a golden-yellow in color, just like his mother, and on his head was blond hair. When his eyes slowly opened, they revealed a soft shade of blue, and he cocked his head at Eren and Carla. He turned his head and spotted his mother. With widening eyes, the colt attempted to stand; failing many times before his mother walked over and helped him up. Once the colt was balancing next to his mother he smiled.

"He's beautiful. Have you thought of any names?" Carla smiled herself and stood.

"Armin." The mare replied with a light tone.

"Well then," Carla turned to her son, "I hope you and Armin get along." Eren nodded and continued to stare at Armin; just amazed at the whole event that just went on. True to her word, Eren and Armin ended becoming the closest friends. Armin even became friends with Eren's adoptive sister, Mikasa. When they were all older, Eren started to teach Armin about the different kinds of horse events that are held around the world. Armin had gotten curious when he saw Carla training some of the regular horses and started asking Eren what that was about. Upon hearing about cross-country, Armin was ecstatic. Hearing Eren talk about all the kinds of terrain that cross-country involved made Armin beyond curious to see them and participate in the event. Seeing no harm in this, they brought the idea to Carla. At first she seemed upset, seeing as how Armin was a centaur, not a horse, so there were some complications.

"I don't quite know how the centaur half of the events go. It may not be for the best. After all, I heard that even though centaurs are half-human they still need riders." Carla explained. Both Eren and Armin turned to one another with big frowns.

"What if Eren trained to ride me? At least I know I can trust him right? If I don't like it we can call it quits then." Armin asked after taking some time to think.

"I guess if that's what you want." Carla sighed, but smiled to the boys. Eren and Armin cheered and thanked Carla many times.

"Let's go tell Mikasa!" Eren squealed. Armin nodded and started to run on ahead. "Hey, wait for me!" Eren shouted as he followed suit. Armin laughed, but slowed down enough that he and Eren were side-by-side as they went. When the pair finally reached Mikasa they told her about their plans.

"That sounds fun." Mikasa said with a barely noticeable smile on her face.

"Yeah, and you'll be there cheering us on right?" Eren asked her.

"If that's what you want." Mikasa lightly shrugged her shoulders. Armin could immediately tell that something was off.

"What's wrong Mikasa?" Armin walked up to her and leaned down so he was face-to-face with her.

"Well… I've been trying to convince Carla to let me find a horse so I can participate in show jumping, but she's been brushing it off." Mikasa answered.

"So you're thinking that she's not being fair?" Armin asked for clarification. Mikasa gave him a nod.

"I'm sure mom will find you a horse, we have lots to choose from." Eren finally jumped into the conversation.

"But none of the horses on the farm are fit for show jumping; they're too old. And a new, young horse can be expensive; I don't think Carla can afford that right now." Mikasa explained with a frown.

"I'm sure she'll find a way. I can even talk to her for you." Eren stated and softly tapped his shoulder against Mikasa's.

"Okay." Mikasa muttered.

"That's the spirit." Armin smiled and trotted a few circles around the pair of siblings. Pretty soon the subject of horse events were put to the side and the trio went to play in the open field. Their fun only came to an end when Carla called for Eren and Mikasa to do their chores around the stables. Eren groaned, but he and Mikasa went anyway. Meanwhile Armin decided that a quick nap would do him some good. So he located a nice warm spot in the field and rolled over onto his back, kicking his legs lightly as he balanced himself. With a smile Armin's mind drifted to cross-country running and he closed his eyes. He would picture the racing courses and how he would need to find books about the subject. Who knows what he could learn?! All the rules and regulations, the standards, the legends; they all made Armin giddy just thinking about the possibilities. Armin was dreaming for what felt like hours when his train of thought was disturbed by the feeling of a hoof nudging his side. When he opened his eyes, Armin realized the sky was darkening already, with a yawn he rolled onto his side. He slowly turned his head to see who woke him. Armin was quite surprised to see that it was another centaur. As far as the blond knew, there were only two other centaurs at "Fields or Freedom", Sasha and Connie. And the centaur in front of him was neither. Quickly, Armin got to his feet and stood defensively. He surveyed the stranger, taking in every detail he could. The other centaur was a stallion like himself, though a tad taller and his horse body was a bunch of shades of brown in color. His hair was a two-toned brown with an undercut and his eyes were also brown.

"Who are you?" He whimpered slightly. The stallion only snorted and stomped a hoof. "H-Hey I asked you a question." Armin stated despite feeling extremely nervous.

"Who wants to know?" The stallion huffed.

"You woke me up, so you tell me who you are first." Armin grumbled, sounding a tad braver due to irritation.

"Fine," the stallion rolled his eyes, "I'm Jean."

"Okay. I'm Armin; I guess it's nice to meet you." Armin muttered back, still cautious and upset at the other.

"So hey, I was brought here supposedly because I'm to train with some girl named Mikasa. My previous owners thought I'd be the best choice or whatever." Jean explained; though it was obvious to Armin that Jean was clueless about his situation.

"Um, I think your 'owners' made a mistake. Mikasa needs a horse to participate in show jumping, not a centaur." Armin explained the information that he knew. Besides, this was suspicious; Carla was still looking for a horse he thought.

"Great." Jean snorted and shook his head, "Sounds like there's been some major miscommunication, there's no way I'm show jumping."

"I can take you to Mrs. Jaeger; she's the owner of the farm." Armin started to walk, heading for the house.

"Sounds like a plan." Jean was quick to follow behind Armin. The whole way Jean was complaining to Armin about how his "owners" never paid attention to the difference between horses and centaurs. Claiming that they just didn't care, not that they treated them the same.

"Don't worry; we'll fix this up in a jiffy." Armin explained with a smile. Jean was surprisingly not as bad as he seemed at first. All of a sudden Jean started to laugh.

"Man that was an old saying. What kind of things are you being taught here?" Jean paused in walking to stamp the ground out of laughter. Armin's cheeks burned red and he swished his tail.

"Just stay here and I'll get Mrs. Jaeger!" He trotted off to the backside of the Jaeger family home. When Armin came back he was with Carla and Mikasa. As soon as they showed up Jean's ears perked forward. His eyes were glued to Mikasa.

"See guys, you ended up with a centaur, not a horse." Armin stated to the girls as he directed his hands toward Jean.

"What a mess…" Carla sighed, "But I guess if he doesn't mind and neither do you, you can train him." She explained to Mikasa. Mikasa walked up to Jean and looked him over. The whole time she did that Jean stood straight and still.

"Do you want to train with me to show jump?" Mikasa asked Jean when she finished checking him over.

"Y-Yeah." Jean nodded to her.

"Cool. I'm going to tell Eren, see you later." Mikasa then left. Carla smiled, happy that things worked out and also left. When the girls were gone Jean relaxed. Armin stared at the other stallion with a confused look.

"Not five minutes ago you were complaining about show jumping. What changed your mind?" Armin asked and looked up to Jean's face.

"So that girl is going to be my rider? That's awesome." Jean blushed a bit and grinned. Armin frowned; just what was Jean talking about? How'd seeing Mikasa make him change his mind? "You didn't tell me my rider was so pretty. I think I'm going to enjoy this." Jean suddenly revealed. Armin couldn't help but gasp.

"You pervert! Don't you dare think about Mikasa like that!" Armin stamped his front hooves and glared at Jean. Surprised, Jean took a few steps back. With a snort Armin shook his head and sighed, "Come on, I'll show you the stable." With not another word, Armin started walking with Jean right behind him. On the way Armin explained the farm rules and how things worked. Once in the stable he walked up to his own stall and stopped.

"The only open stall is the one next to mine. Mikasa already prepped it for a horse so just go ahead inside. Go ahead and get settled, we have a long day tomorrow. I'm pretty sure Eren, my rider, and Mikasa are going to want to train us right off the bat." Armin explained and went into his own stall, closing the door behind him. Jean shrugged his shoulders and went into his new stall, also shutting the stall door behind him. When he walked in he noticed that he could see into the stalls next to him. On one side he could see another centaur stallion that was fast asleep, while on the other he could see Armin settling onto the hay bedding and stretching before closing his eyes. Jean contemplated this whole situation he was in before copying Armin's actions. He wasn't too worried. After all, he had a pretty rider that was going to train him and another centaur to tease as he trained. This seemed like it was going to be fun. Oh, only if he knew what was awaiting him in the morning…


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Attack on Titan in any way!

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><p>Jean was sleeping peacefully when the sound of frantic hooves suddenly woke him up.<p>

"Whoa Armin you never told me there was a new guy! Is he cool? Is he mean? What's his name? Oh hey he's waking up!" Suddenly Jean's stall door was opened and he was met with a smiling centaur. This centaur was shorter than Armin and his body was gray in color. And what was unique about him, was that he was bald.

"Calm down Connie, I'm sure your questions will be answered shortly. Jean just woke up, give him a minute." Armin chuckled a bit and put a hand on Connie's back.

"Oh right." Connie mumbled and took a few steps back. Jean snorted lightly and got to his feet.

"What's for breakfast?" Jean asked as he yawned and stretched his arms upwards.

"Mrs. Jaeger is bringing us some apple pancakes. But keep in mind as soon as we finish eating you and I have to start training." Armin explained.

"Training? What are you going on about?" This was a new voice. Heads turned to see a female centaur. She was a lot like Jean in color – brown pretty much everywhere, but her coloring was a solid chestnut. Her hair was pulled up in a ponytail, and her upper half was covered with a white tank top.

"Armin said he's going to for cross-country with Eren!" Connie answered excitedly.

"Really? That's awesome! Good luck Armin!" The mare clapped her hands together and smiled.

"Thanks Sasha." Armin ducked his head in a bit of embarrassment.

"You're training for cross-country? No way." Jean snorted.

"Why not?" Armin suddenly turned around to face Jean and glared at him.

"Pfft, you're small and I doubt you have the endurance to run long distances and jump over obstacles." Jean explained himself.

"That's what training is for, and I'm not small!" Armin huffed.

"Yes you are, now let's go eat, I'm starving." Jean started to leave the stable.

"Hold up Jean, breakfast come to us!" Connie went after the other stallion. Meanwhile, Sasha walked up and nudged flanks with Armin.

"I'm sure he's a really nice guy, he just has to get used to us first." She commented, hoping to comfort the blond.

"I just hope he gets used to us sooner than later." Armin sighed and motioned that he was going to go out. Sasha nodded and followed him out of the stable. Just outside Jean and Connie were conversing, big smiles on their faces.

"I guess Connie and him made fast friends." Sasha giggled.

"Just call your boyfriend over here." Armin rolled his eyes slightly.

"You're just jealous." Sasha continued to giggle, "Connie!" She then called out. Immediately the bald stallion galloped over.

"What do you need?" Connie asked as soon as he was next to Sasha.

"I just wanted to give you your morning kiss." Sasha then planted a kiss on Connie's forehead. By now Connie was used to showing affection between himself and Sasha, she he returned a kiss on Sasha's cheek.

"Okay, now I'm pretty sure Armin wanted me over here too. What's up?" Connie grinned and turned to Armin.

"Well Mrs. Jaeger should be here soon, so everyone should wash up and what not to get ready to eat. I want you to show Jean what to do." Armin explained. Once Connie nodded, that was the go ahead for Armin and Sasha to go take care of that while Connie went to go get Jean to do the same. When he walked back over to Jean he was met with a confused face.

"So that mare is your girlfriend?" Jean questioned.

"Yep, we've been together for about a year now. She's super sweet and funny; but you better not try and take her away from me!" Connie chuckled after he gave his warning.

"Trust me I won't; now I saw that Armin and Sasha left, what's up with that?" Jean pointed to the spot that Armin and Sasha were standing not too long ago.

"They went to wash up before we eat. In fact I'm to show you the ropes about that. Come on, I'll show you to the showers." Connie explained and grabbed Jean's hand to pull him along. Turns out the showers are outside and look sort of like the communal showers sports players have in their locker rooms. Two of the showers were already running, which Jean figured were Sasha and Armin.

"Now Jean, listen up. There's some soap in the shower stalls for you to use and there are towels in a crate in each stall to take when done. You don't have to overly wash yourself like humans do, but do clean yourself. No peeking into the other stalls, there are curtains for doors for privacy. Now hurry up, I don't want to miss breakfast." Connie quickly explained before going into a stall himself. Jean watched Connie go with a slightly confused look, but went ahead and looked for a stall to go into. He quickly washed up and grabbed a towel. He dried his hair and torso, tossing the towel over his shoulder and walking out. Just as he exited he turned and saw Armin walk out of a stall himself. He had a towel draped over his flank and hair dripping wet. The blond looked around before settling his eyes on Jean.

"Hey, do you want to help me dry off? Normally Sasha helps or I just air dry." Armin shrugged. Jean thought about it a moment, and had a great idea; he too didn't really want to air dry.

"I'll help, but you have to return the favor." Jean replied with a grin on his face. Armin smiled and went to grab Jean's hand, pulling him away from the showers.

"Alright me first!" Armin stated cheerfully as he removed the towel off of his body and handed it to Jean.

"Fine." Jean took the towel and watched Armin tilt his head to watch the clouds. With a small eye roll Jean went ahead to drying off Armin's flank. He was surprisingly gentle as he wiped down Armin's back and was extra careful with his belly and legs. When he finished, Jean asked Armin what he should do with the towel.

"Just put in on the ground for now. And thank you very much by the way!" Armin giggled a bit. "Now it's your turn." The blond held out a hand for the other centaur to hand him his towel. Without a second thought Jean handed Armin his towel and crossed his arms over his chest as he waited to be dried off. Armin was a tad slow when he was drying off Jean's flank; as if he was nervous of doing something wrong.

"What, have you never dried someone off before?" Jean snorted; this was taking too long in his opinion. Armin squeaked before speaking.

"Sorry, it's just; we're still kind of strangers to one another… I'm just nervous is all." Armin mumbled and looked away feeling slightly ashamed of himself.

"Well just so you know I'm not some porcelain doll, dry me off, I'm not going to break." Jean sighed and turned his head away from the other.

"Right." Armin sighed himself and went back to drying off Jean. This time he was much quicker and finished without anything else happening. By this time Connie and Sasha were walking over.

"Oh I see that you got Jean to dry you off, I was curious when you left the showers without telling me." Sasha laughed a bit as she walked up to Armin's side.

"I just thought that you'd want to spend some quality time with Connie. Besides I need to get friendly with Jean seeing as we will be training together." Armin explained to the mare.

"Sure, that's the whole truth." Sasha giggled; she obviously knew something the stallions didn't. Armin huffed and shoved Sasha lightly. "In any case, I wanted to ask if it'd be alright to braid your tail. It's too long and until you get it trimmed I thought, 'why not'? Oh, the same goes for your hair, we'll have to put it up in a small ponytail." Sasha moved on from the previous conversation.

"Well if you want to." Armin shrugged his shoulders.

"Really? You're going to let her braid your tail?" Jean stared at Armin with scrunched eyebrows.

"There's nothing wrong with braiding his tail. Geez you stallions and your manliness." Sasha rolled her eyes and went to go lay in the grass, Armin copying her actions.

"Well while they do that you want to race around the field?" Connie asked Jean with a cocky grin on his face.

"You're on short stack." Jean shot Connie a cocky grin of his own and the two were off. Pretty soon Armin could hear Eren and Mikasa calling out for him and Jean.

"That's my cue. Later Sasha, and thanks, my tail looks great." Armin made sure to comment on the mare's work as he stood up to go and get Jean. At first the blond called out for the other stallion, but he was too busy horse playing with Connie. Armin let out a sigh before running over, catching up with the two.

"Jean our riders are calling for us." Armin quickly stated. At first Jean was shocked to see Armin running alongside him, but soon they slowed to a stop.

"Oh alright. Later Connie!" Jean called out before leaving with Armin. The two trotted over to Eren and Mikasa.

"Armin!" Eren suddenly groaned, "You let Sasha braid your tail?" His head leaned backwards and he groaned again.

"I think it looks nice." Mikasa commented and run her hands through her long hair.

"Thank you Mikasa." Armin huffed. Jean then walked closer to Mikasa.

"I'm sure your hair would look great in a braid too." The stallion grinned like an idiot and his cheeks tinted a slight pink. Mikasa hummed a bit and looked at her hair.

"Whatever!" Eren suddenly got everyone's attention. "Besides Mikasa your hair is too long, imagine having to keep putting it up for completion. I say it needs to be cut." He flicked some of the hair by Mikasa's face. She looked at the strands Eren had just flicked.

"If you think so." Mikasa replied. That got Jean furious, he had just complemented her hair and here she goes and ruins it. No, Eren ruined it. Armin suddenly noticed that Jean was angrily digging one of his hooves against the dirt.

"Jean, leave it be. I swear if you attack Eren, things aren't going to be pretty." Armin hissed quietly at the other. Luckily, Jean seemed to calm down. At this moment Armin and Jean finally noticed that their riders had saddles, shirts, and blankets in their arms. Eren then walked over to Armin and tossed a blanket over his back, adjusting it so that it was even.

"How does that feel?" Eren asked and patted Armin's flank lightly.

"Fine." Armin replied. Mikasa then tossed her blanket over Jean's back. He seemed less okay with it than Armin, but he kept his mouth shut.

"Now listen, mom said that you are probably going to hate the saddle for a while so I'm just supposed to hook it up on you and let you run around with it on. Oh, that and you have to start wearing shirts. You can't be shirtless during competitions – that'd be rude, or something." Eren started explaining to Armin. Mikasa pretty much told Jean the same thing.

"We'll have to get used to them sooner or later." Armin admitted and gave a small shrug of his shoulders.

"Right." Eren nodded. First things first, Armin and Jean were given white button-up shirts to wear. The stallions slowly slipped the shirts on. They weren't so bad, and they looked nice too. Armin started testing the shirt out by stretching his arms and bending over occasionally. Jean at first just stared at the smaller stallion, but Mikasa was quick to suggest that he start doing the same thing and Jean immediately started doing so.

"These shirts aren't so bad. I think we're ready for those saddles now." Jean stated with confidence after a few minutes.

"Are you sure?" Mikasa asked.

"Well, what else would we do? The shirts are fine so we might as well move on to the next thing." Jean replied.

"Don't you think we should be practicing jumping or something else Jean?" Armin added in his two cents.

"They brought the saddles didn't they? No point in making them lug them back home without having used them." Jean rebutted.

"You have a point." Armin admitted and then turned to Eren. "Let's saddle up. But just the saddle – you're not riding me yet." He explained to his rider.

"Of course. Mom said you should get used to bareback riding before saddle riding. You know, get used to the feeling me on your back and stuff." Eren replied. Armin just nodded in agreement. Without another conversation popping up, Eren and Mikasa went to saddle up their rides. At first the stallions seemed fine, but soon their faces sprouted frowns.

"This is way too weird! Get it off!" Jean snorted and trotted in circles. He even started to kick backwards to try and see if the saddle would fall off. Meanwhile Armin just grimaced and shook his body. Luckily for the blond Eren hadn't tied the saddle very well so it loosened and slipped in a way that it turned upside down. But now it was even a weirder feeling.

"Okay get it off!" Armin squeaked and slightly trotted in place.

"Hold on." Eren carefully approached Armin and started to slip off saddle. He completely unlatched the saddle strap and it fell to the ground, along with the blanket on Armin's back. Said blond sighed in relief.

"Jean!" At the sound of Mikasa shout, Armin and Eren turned to see what was wrong. Apparently Jean was so desperate to get the saddle off that he rolled over onto the ground.

"That won't help you!" Armin called out to the other hoping it would get him to stop. But Jean didn't hear a thing. Mikasa was just about to walk over to her ride when Armin stopped her.

"You might get kicked, let me." Armin put a hand on her shoulder.

"You be careful yourself." Mikasa mumbled. Armin nodded to her and slowly walked over to Jean.

"Jean, hey. Let me take the saddle off." Armin tried to reason first. Jean snorted and rolled again before giving up and getting to his feet again. Then in a flash Jean kicked backwards. He cheered as the saddle finally flung off. But then he looked and saw an angry Eren and dumbfounded Mikasa.

"You piss of sh- !" Eren's mouth was covered by Mikasa's hand. That's when Jean turned around and realized that Armin was clutching one of his arms and his face was pulled into a frown. Jean's eyes widened, had he kicked Armin? When she was sure that Eren was going to stay quiet Mikasa ran over to Armin. She slowly got him to take his hand off of his arm. He was bleeding slightly and already starting to bruise. Finally Mikasa looked angry as she turned to Jean. Just as she was to speak Armin patted her head.

"Leave him be… Accidents happen." The blond stated quietly; just barely above a whisper.

"Look Armin, I' sorry…" Jean's ears pulled back and he bowed his head.

"I think that's enough of the saddles for a while. Maybe we should try again next week." Armin explained.

"…Eren grab the saddles, I'm going to go get the first aid kit. Armin, stay here." Mikasa stated and began to leave, her hands balled up into fists at her sides. Eren was quick to grab the equipment and run after Mikasa. As they were alone Jean and Armin kind of started at one another in silence.

"I really am sorry." Jean cautiously took steps closer to the other stallion.

"It's fine." Armin sighed and plopped down onto the grass. He was too tired to stand right now.

"Nothing's broken right?" Jean asked as he slowly laid himself next to Armin.

"No, thank goodness. You know you have a pretty strong kick." Armin tried to lighten the mood.

"…You know that's not the first time I was told that after kicking someone before." Jean admitted.

"You kicked someone before?" Armin looked at Jean with surprised.

"Yeah, my best friend. He was a human though. That time was also an accident…" Jean smiled a bit, though it seemed like a sad smile. Armin figured it wasn't the time to pry. He gave a small smile of his own before leaning his head against Jean's arm. The two decided that they'd lay like this until their riders returned, and it was surprisingly not so bad.


End file.
